Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Do Celebrities Have an Advantage in Adoption?

Because adoption is a private matter, some may question whether stars get special treatment when going through the long, expensive and often arduous adoption process.

"Many adoption agencies claim celebrities do not get special treatment, and celebrities have taken the same stance," said Dorothy Cascerceri, senior editor at In Touch Weekly. "Madonna seemed to fast-track the adoption of her son, David, from Africa, causing critics to slam her, but she insisted that it didn't matter that she was a celebrity or had money -- that she was going through the process the same way as everyone else."

According to David Smolin, a professor at the Cumberland Law School at Samford University and an international adoption expert, non-residents are not allowed to adopt in Malawi, but because of the humanitarian aid Madonna poured into the nation, she was able to skirt some rules when adopting her two children, Mercy James and David Banda.

"For Madonna, being wealthy was maybe more important than being a celebrity because she donated large sums to humanitarian efforts in the country," Smolin said. "To some degree, celebrities can get special treatment based on the amount of money they are donating."

Cascerceri agreed, and she admits celebrities often have an adoption advantage due to their financial status.

What do you think? Does money and fame make a difference? Do you think it's the money or the fame? Are there ways in which celebrity might be a disadvantage?

3 comments:

Does money and fame make a difference? Absolutely. If a "normal" prospective adoptive parent (non-celeb) had backgrounds as seedy and unstable as many of the celebrity adopters did, they would never pass a home study.

Do you think it's the money or the fame? I think it is both.

Are there ways in which celebrity might be a disadvantage? Only to the child involved.

Very interesting post- when we were in China adopting our daughter, we saw Jean Smart (Designing Women... among others.. fame) and she was very lovely and very in love with her little girl. It startled me, though, that I, at 39, was given an 18 month old little girl and she, at over 50, was obviously given some kind of preferential/rule-breaking treatment as she had a little girl who was only TEN MONTHS old at Gotcha Day. How else to say this happened when China is clear about the age of the birthmother as to how they "match" children? Does celebrity and fame make a difference- I think it is subtle- particularly in this case- they still had to go through the same process/procedures, but who knows how someone gets a healthy VERY YOUNG child when everyone else we were with in China was adopting a Special Needs child who was older. In any case, I am happy for all the children who are able to be adopted and find Forever Families.

As you know most of the communities (such as Bengali) in this sub-continent are covered by ‘Culture of Poverty’ (Oscar Lewis), irrespective of class or economic strata, lives in pavement or apartment. Nobody seriously condemn or ashamed of the deep-rooted corruption, decaying general quality of life, worst Politico-governance, bad work place, weak mother language, continuous consumption of common social space (mental as well as physical, both). We are becoming fathers & mothers only by self-procreation, mindlessly & blindfold(supported by some lame excuses). Simply depriving their(the children) fundamental rights of a decent & caring society, fearless & dignified living. Pushing persons for a nasty survival, indulge the entire community to go perish. Do not ever look for any other positive alternative values to perform human way of parenthood, i.e. deliberately stop giving birth to any child him/herself till the society improves up to the mark, co-parenting children those are born out of extreme poverty, instead. All of us are driven only by the very animal instinct. If the Bengali people ever desires genuine freedom from vicious cycle of poverty, need to involve themselves in ‘Production of Space’(Henri Lefebvre), an intense attachment with the society at large to overcome inherent ‘hopeless’ mindset, decent Politics would certainly come up. – SB, 16/4, Girish Banerjee Lane, Howrah -711101, India.